Free Republic

For those old enough to remember, the late 1970's and early 1980’s were consumed by periods of high unemployment, high inflation, and devastating interest rates. The national debt was almost $1 Trillion. Interest rates were in the high teens and inflation was equally high. President Reagan, in a national debate, asked the devastating rhetorical question which haunted then President Carter, “Are we better off today than we were four years earlier?” The answer to the question was intuitively obvious to the most casual observer at the time and is believed to have had a significant effect on the outcome of...

Remember the “Misery Index?” If, like me, you are a “child of the 70’s and 80’s,” then you probably have some acquaintance with the term. Yet we don’t hear much about the Misery Index anymore. And given all that is and is not happening economically in our country right now, it seems like an appropriate time to bring back the index, although we’ll need to amend it just a bit. Let me explain. Back in 2009 when my co-author and I were doing research for our new book “The Virtues Of Capitalism,” I came across some background information about the...

White House: The Economy Is Lost Obama Admin. Says “Nothing Is Possible” To Help Struggling Economy As Jobless Claims Hit Nine-Month High, Employers “Scared To Death”; Gop Listening And Offering Better Solutions Washington (Aug 19) With President Obama set to take off for Martha’s Vineyard in a matter of hours, the Obama Administration says “NOTHING IS POSSIBLE” (their caps, not ours) to help an economy showing new signs of job losses and employer uncertainty. (Now, this is a peculiar admission coming from a White House that is also saying, despite his vacation, that the president is “working hard to do...

There is plenty of misery around the United States in 2010 but some cities are experiencing more of it than others. There was plenty of it to go around from January to December 2009. Do they have some things in common that puts them in that category?

With today’s release of December inflation data by the US government, the Misery Index officially rose to Carter era levels. The Misery Index is the unemployment rate plus the inflation rate. During the 48 months of the Carter presidency, the lowest Misery Index was 12.60. With the release of today’s numbers, we now know that the December 2009 Misery Index was 12.72. Some historical perspective: during the 96 months of G. W. Bush’s presidency, the Misery Index never surpassed 11.47. When Obama became president, the Misery Index was 7.63. In the eleven months of the Obama presidency for which data...

Friday's poor employment number will cause political problems for the Democrats as the touted benefits of their policies fail to pass the spin zone. The numbers "saved" ruse will become increasingly absurd as the unemployment number remains stubbornly high. Instead of jobs saved being recycled we might start hearing more about the total jobless rate - which includes discouraged workers no longer looking - that ticked up to 17.3% from 17.2%. Many of the unemployed are out of work for longer periods of times, stoking a revulsion against incumbents and the leaders of this country that are right now all...

Stagflation, the worst of both worlds (anemic economic growth and high inflation) brings back less than fond memories of the 1970's, along with the misery index, which is calculated adding the inflation rate to the unemployment rate. Until the 1960's, Keynesian economists had thought that those two economic events couldn't happen at the same time.

Misery Index All Over Again http://www.wiseandfrugalgovernment.blogspot.com/ During the Dark Days of the Carter Administration, through the bleak haze of stagflation (for the under 50 crowd stagflation is: a period of slow economic growth and high unemployment (stagnation) while prices rise (inflation)--sound familiar?) we were told America's best days were past. Not that Jimmy Carter's message was that direct. He was dignified as a Presidenct should be; he used subtle language; he set a good example. When oil prices shot through the roof, Carter was a picture of calm, addressing the nation before the comforting flame of the presidential fireplace, dressed...

Click on the photo of one minute and seventeen seconds, to view the video. Here is video of GOP congressman Dave Camp from Michigan unveiling the "Obama Misery Index," or the OMI - "Oh, My Index." It focuses on the "stunning rise in debt and unemployment."

Thirty years after Jimmy Carter's malaise speech, we return to the days of rising joblessness, an unresponsive economy, deference to dictators, gutting the military and an energy policy tilting at windmills... As history repeats itself on the anniversary of the speech MSNBC's Chris Matthews wrote, we wonder if the "Hardball" host, who has worked for four Democratic politicians, is still getting tingles up his legs. The Democratic Party apparently has learned nothing in the past three decades. Will we see a return of the misery index? The only thing that's different is the sweater.

Did you know Resident Obama (I refuse to refer to him as President since he refuses to release information to show he is eligible) assumed the presidency under the best economic times for a new president since Lyndon Johnson became president? You WERE better off before he took office and you WILL be Far worse off with each passing day under his "Reign". Barack Obama took over an economy that WAS in better shape than any new president has enjoyed in 45 years. The much maligned War spending vs Resident Barack Obama spending get a grip the business's have and...

THIS IS AN EXCERPT. The Obama administration is certain to prolong and deepen the economic recession, with the result that unemployment and inflation will increase, Jerome Corsi's Red Alert contends. ... "Now, as president, Obama has repeatedly blamed the current economic recession on President Bush, alleging his administration 'inherited an economic mess' that will take years to resolve," Corsi wrote. "However, a close look at the table below shows that the Misery Index under President Obama is increasing, as unemployment edges close to 9 percent." The Misery Index, created by economist Arthur Okun, is obtained by adding the unemployment...

While reading reactions to Stanford economist John Taylor’s op-ed in the Financial Times last week, I kept running into the phrase “deficits caused by tax cuts”; one liberal commentator after another wrote that Taylor forfeited his right to complain about the Obama administration’s trillion-dollar deficits when he called for Bush’s tax cuts to be made permanent. Some also criticized Taylor’s arithmetic, arguing that he deliberately or accidentally overstated the rate of inflation it would take to return to a pre-Obama ratio of debt-to-GDP in ten years’ time. And Paul Krugman devoted his Friday column to the subject of Taylor’s stated...

During the 1976 Presidential campaign, Democratic candidate Jimmy Carter frequently referenced something called the "Misery Index" to suggest the Republican incumbent ought not be re-elected due to the index's high level, which was about 13.57% at that time. Carter won the 1976 election, and the Misery Index reached an all-time high of 21.98% under his administration. Just what is a "misery index," and what type of misery index are we facing under an Obama administration? http://conservativebrawler.blogspot.com/2009/03/looming-threat-of-another-carter-esk.html

Iceland's central bank has raised its key interest rate to 18% from 12% as it battles against financial collapse. The rise comes less than two weeks after Iceland cut rates from 15.5%. The central bank governor said the increase was part of its agreement with the International Monetary Fund, from which it borrowed $2bn (£1.3bn). Iceland's prime minister said the country needed another $4bn in loans and had approached the European Central Bank and the US Federal Reserve. Currency slump Central bank governor David Oddsson said that he hoped the rise in rates would only last for a short time...

Former President Jimmy Carter said Monday his remarks were "careless or misinterpreted" when he said the Bush administration has been the "worst in history" for its impact around the world. Speaking on NBC's "Today," Mr. Carter appeared to retreat from a statement he made to Arkansas Democrat-Gazette in which he said: "I think as far as the adverse impact on the nation around the world, this administration has been the worst in history." The comment was in a story published in the newspaper Saturday. Mr. Carter said Monday that when he made the comment, he was responding to a question...

WASHINGTON, May 15 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Former President Jimmy Carter, recipient of the 2002 Nobel Peace Prize, has called on Congress to revisit the military's "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" ban on lesbian, gay and bisexual personnel. In an exclusive statement to Servicemembers Legal Defense Network (SLDN), Carter says that, "It is my long-held belief that every human being deserves dignity and respect. I often heard that phrase during my years at the United States Naval Academy, I carried it out as Commander-in-Chief, and it continues to animate my human rights work around the globe today. The nation's commitment to human rights...

A question that seems to be on everybody's mind these days turns out to be: Is George Bush the worst President in American history? But how do you judge? Is he the most morally disgusting? The worst mangler of the English language? Ever since the atom bomb was dropped, we've had a whole string of bozos who cannot pronounce the word "nuclear." How much should that count against them? Is John Tyler, our tenth President, a candidate for worst President? Some people who have never heard of this guy have heard of the campaign slogan "Tippecanoe and Tyler, Too." Well,...

Faith, Commitments and Mideast Peace My most recent book, Palestine: Peace Not Apartheid, is designed to break the existing stalemate and to prescribe a path to permanent peace for Israelis, with peace and justice for the Palestinians. All the major religions would endorse these goals. » Read the full entry POSTED December 31, 2006 12:15 PM by Jimmy Carter

Breaking with a long tradition, Jimmy Carter runs around the world bad-mouthing President Bush and the USA. He seems to think that those of us who were alive and conscious during his failed presidency have forgotten. I haven’t. I remember 15 to 20% interest rates at the same time that unemployment stood at 7%. I remember inflation at 12%.